HUXLEY 25 



in the conduct of life. The character which the 

 school had to build up could, in his view, be noth- 

 ing more than a broken fragment, a fragment 

 whose broken edges were dangerous if, in attempt- 

 ing to build it up, the moral phenomena and the 

 moral laws of the universe were wholly left out of 

 sight. 



But in seeking for a teaching which should thus 

 build up the whole character he was met by a 

 great difficulty. He himself had long been con- 

 vinced that the conduct of life might be guided 

 by a morality and inspired by a religion having 

 no part whatever in the theological doctrines of 

 any Church, whether Roman, Anglican, or any 

 other. His own life had been guided by that 

 morality and inspired by that religion. He be- 

 lieved that those who thought with him on this 

 matter were increasing in numbers everywhere 

 and would in the end become dominant. At the 

 same time he recognised that in the face of the 

 prevailing influence of the several forms of the 

 Christian Church, and in the presence of powerful 

 traditions, inwrought into the very national life, 

 to teach such a morality and such religion in the 

 common school called for teachers possessing 

 convictions which were rare and powers which 

 were still rarer. On the other hand, he recognised 

 in the Bible, ingrained into the lives and dear 

 to the hearts of so many, a most potent instrument 

 for inculcating the moral lessons which he desired 

 to see inculcated and for inspiring the moral 



